Major Advertisers Caught in Spyware Net

Associated Press Writer ^ | JUNE 2005 | By MICHAEL GORMLEY,

[restornu]

Unwanted software slithered into Patti McMann's home computer over the Internet and unleashed an annoying barrage of pop-up ads that sometimes flashed on her screen faster than she could close them.

Annoying, for sure. But the last straw came a year ago when the pop-ups began plugging such household names as J.C. Penney Co. and Capital One Financial Corp., companies McMann expected to know better.

Didn't they realize that trying to reach people through spyware and its ad-delivering subset, called adware, would only alienate them?

"It irritated the heck out of me," said McMann, a 45-year-old former corporate executive from Klamath Falls, Ore. "It took a week to take off every little piece of crap that was put on my computer. Every time I rebooted, it started to come up again."

Pop-up ads carried by spyware and adware aren't just employed by fringe companies hawking dubious wares — such as those tricky messages that tell you your computer has been corrupted.

You can count some big tech companies among its users, including broadband phone provider Vonage Holdings Corp., online employment agency Monster Worldwide Inc. and online travel agencies Expedia Inc., Priceline.com Inc. and Orbitz LLC.

These companies acknowledge they've used adware to reach potential customers, though they say they shun any programs that monitor online surfing or extract personal information.

Even Fortune 500 companies have turned to adware: Sprint Corp. for its PCS mobile phones, major banks peddling Visa credit cards, Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). and retailers including Circuit City Stores Inc. And Mercedes-Benz USA had its cars flashing on consumer's computer screens before the company, fielding complaints, put on the brakes.

Repeated requests to Capital One about its use of adware pop-ups weren't returned. J.C. Penney spokesman Quinton Crenshaw said Friday the retailer stopped using adware less than a year ago and never used spyware, but does use "cookie-base advertising."

Spyware and adware often land on computers without their owners' full knowledge, hitching a ride during visits to porn and gambling sites or in downloads of free games and screensavers. Often, the payload arrives with downloads of cartoon-character wares aimed at children.

Infected computer users can get barraged with pop-up ads and find the unwanted programs difficult to remove.

So far, law enforcement has mostly targeted the transmitters. Intermix Media Inc. has agreed to pay $7.5 million in a tentative settlement of a lawsuit by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

But Spitzer isn't stopping there. He is threatening to hold accountable household-name advertisers that use adware networks. No longer, says Spitzer, can companies play dumb.

That's making many advertisers nervous, though they insist they work with subcontractors and often don't know about any adware use until they get a complaint.

"There's plausible deniability at each tier," said Chris King, product marketing manager at anti-spyware vendor Blue Coat Systems Inc.

Big-time online advertising is built on layers: A big advertiser, such as a Fortune 500 company, directs an agency to handle a campaign. The agency then farms that message out to specialists in various media, which can include spyware and adware purveyors.

"We do everything we can to make sure our partners adhere to our standards," said Jeffrey Citron, Vonage's chief executive.

Yet a pop-up ad for Vonage appeared in a screen shot that Spitzer used in his case against Intermix. Citron said he was unaware of the ad and promised to look into it, as he said the company does with similar complaints.

Mercedes-Benz says its ad was carried to hard drives last year by an agency it has since fired, while computer maker Dell USA has fired "a handful" of affiliates for carrying Dell's coupons and ads over adware.

"This is not a practice we condone," said Dell spokeswoman Jennifer Davis.

Dave Methvin, chief technology officer with tech diagnostic site PC Pitstop, said problems are no surprise given the many layers involved, but big advertisers have the clout to stop them.

"If you're going to be a good corporate citizen, part of your responsibility is to make sure that kind of thing doesn't happen rather than to say it's three levels down," Methvin said. "If a big company advertising on the Internet makes all of its suppliers down the chain sign a statement (and agree to penalties for breaking the rules), quickly the problem would go away."

It's not just big advertisers who have ties to spyware and adware.

Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) made a deal with adware company Claria Corp., formerly known as Gator Corp., to provide search listings for its SearchScout toolbar. The popular search engines Ask Jeeves and Google also benefit from adware, says Internet researcher Benjamin Edelman.

He says an Ask Jeeves toolbar generates ads without users' full consent, while Google's search listings appear in queries made through a questionable third-party toolbar. Ask Jeeves and Google officials dispute Edelman's account and say they don't use any spyware or adware. Company policy bans the use of adware by Google, said spokesman Barry Schnitt.

Several states have adopted anti-spyware bills, and the U.S. House approved two in May that carry jail sentences of up to five years in prison. The bills, which don't target advertisers, are now before the Senate, where similar legislation died last year.

While Spitzer and some lawmakers in Alaska, Pennsylvania and Utah say advertisers should also be held accountable, not everyone agrees.

"So many people have such antipathy toward adware and spyware vendors that it blinds them to the underlying legal principles," said Eric Goldman, a cyber law professor at Marquette University.

He said any liability would be unprecedented and would be akin to holding an advertiser responsible for libel by the newspaper in which the ad appears.

Some advertisers defend the practice.

"It is just a marketing tool that we use," said Expedia spokesman David Dennis.

Expedia, like many other adware users, insists it has rigorous standards and checks to make sure customers want their ads and can easily remove the software if they don't. Dennis said the company works closely with its ad agencies to make sure.

Melinda Tiemeyer, spokeswoman for Sprint PCS, said Internet users have clicked on ads delivered by adware, meaning they find them useful. Sprint is OK with using adware because users, she said, accept it in exchange for phone service offers and discounts.

But other advertisers including Netflix Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. have changed their attitudes.

"I think it was more of a realization that this was becoming more of a concern in consumers' eyes and there was a growing level of frustration," said John Bonomo of Verizon, which discontinued adware last July. Still, "it was effective," he said.

"Clearly folks are uncomfortable about it," Edelman said. "Everyone knows that everyone hates pop-ups ... eventually companies just got embarrassed, especially when they get on your computer through this kind of trickery."

[Cicero]

Yahoo toolbar is constantly trying to sneak itself onto my computer. If you download other programs, you often have a box checked by default saying that you also want to install the Yahoo toolbar. It's a real pain, because it can easily get in under the radar screen.

I haven't seen Google do anything like that.

[Last Dakotan]

...Eric Goldman, a cyber law professor at Marquette University.

Wonder if he got his degree online?

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

For any company that gets its spyware/adware onto my computer, I won't do business with them for a stick of gum. And I'll send their corporate office a letter telling them so.

[drt1]

These brain dead marketers obviously subscribe to the adage that any attention is better than none so I suspect we'll see more and more of these off-putting marketing tactics.

I guess they must work, like telemarketers, but not on me or, for that matter, anyone I know. So the question remains - Who are the idiots these tactics are directed to?

[stlnative]

The Adobe Acrobat update tries to force the Yahoo Bar thing, just move it to the left or unclick it. (sorry I don't remember how I got it off the install screen, but it can be done)

[backhoe]

 

Things you need--(all FREE)
Anti-Virus
AVG Anti-Virus version 7 (free) release available...

 Avast
Firewall
Kerio(Direct Download) Zone Alarm

 If are using zone alarm it may slow your PC. Try Outpost Firewall http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpost or Sygate Firewall http://www.sygate.com/ both have FREE and Pro versions and are heads above ZA.
Misc.
IE Spyads SpywareBlaster Spyware Guard
Windows Update- you must keep updated, it is the start of a secure system-
get all CRITICAL Updates

Things you want(Still Free)
 

  I use Firefox. Click the link and give it a try.

 

 

Ad-Aware
Spybot S&D

SpywareBlaster
MS MVP Hosts file

Mike Lin's Homepage and get the Startup Control Panel and Startup Monitor tools.

 

The best forum for malware removal:

-SWI Forums-

 

 
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315720/posts

 Microsoft Releases Anti-Spyware Beta 1 To Public Today.
Microsoft.com ^

 

=================================================

 

 Browser Wars, take two
various FR links | 12-22-04 | The Heavy Equipment Guy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1306815/posts

...and let your compiler of links drop out of Lurk & Link mode for comment and advice:


Keep your OS updated & patched.

Run a hardware firewall-- with today's LAN's, it's easy. You need a hardware firewall.

[Cicero]

Yes. Several other programs try to do the same thing. I think Macromedia Flash player may be one of them. I know I have had to uncheck the Yahoo box three or four times recently. Obviously Yahoo has bribed a lot of other people to install load up their search bar alongside their programs.

[Cicero]

I had to take my old router with hardware firewall out of the circuit because it kept conflicting with my cable modem. But I just got a D-Link wireless router (DI-624) and it works like a charm. Now my kids and I can access the net with my desktop and three wireless notebooks all at once.

[backhoe]

I had to take my old router with hardware firewall out of the circuit because it kept conflicting with my cable modem. But I just got a D-Link wireless router (DI-624) and it works like a charm. Now my kids and I can access the net with my desktop and three wireless notebooks all at once.

A LAN of some kind is a necessity these days, and the new wireless equipment is easy to set up.

Just for fun access the router log
( Check you manual, or try http://192.168.123.254/ )
and see how many "unrecognized attempts" are recorded- mine gets scanned by dozens every hour. It's a jungle out in netland.

When I reformatted & reinstalled on this machine a couple of months ago, the first thing I did was install AVG, then go to MS to update & patch the OS, and in that time, four different viruses tried to install themselves, despite the firewall in the router.

[Cicero]

I use ZoneAlarm, AdAware, Spybot, MS Antispyware, Spyware Blaster, and Norton AV. Plus I have turned off Messenger, locked my raw sockets, and turned off DCOM.

I just cleaned up one of my daughter's computers, and she had 65 pieces of spyware on it.

It's too bad, because having all those security programs resident in memory slows things down somewhat. Zone Alarm and Norton take a couple of minutes to load after bootup, as well. But you are slowed down a lot worse when spyware loads itself all over the place.

[backhoe]

I just cleaned up one of my daughter's computers, and she had 65 pieces of spyware on it. It's too bad, because having all those security programs resident in memory slows things down somewhat.

The home PC had 267 malware infections last summer ( before I put it and the backup PC behind a hardware firewall ) but my wife's "lobby computer"-- the one guests at her place of business use- had an astounding 1,167 bugs ( not just viruses, trojans, dialers, and tracking cookies, but changes to the registry as well ) ... we did eventually get it cleaned up. What a mess.